Understanding baT Auction Success Story: Beer, Wings, and a New H-D Sturgis
Australian BaT user Basil017 last wrote to us in 2022 about his ’66 Impala wagon. He’s back with a new story, this time about the 1991 Harley-Davidson Sturgis that he won from Harley502 in an August 2025 BaT auction.
I was stoked to have won this 2.8-mile H-D Sturgis recently. Even better, we now had an excuse to plan a quick road trip to the West Coast of the United States, and pick it up with another bike we had recently acquired. Unfortunately, our flight from Melbourne, Australia, was delayed by four hours! This meant we had already missed our connection to Seattle, where we’d travel to meet Harley502 at our pre-arranged pick-up spot for the bike! Once we were finally on the plane, an Airbus A380, we were informed that fuel had been loaded into the incorrect tanks, and we’d be delayed another two hours! These setbacks seemed to set a precedent that followed us for the first part of the trip!
The plan was to fly into LAX, catch a quick connecting flight to Seattle, pick up a van from a well-known rental company, and drive two hours to meet Nathan, the bike’s owner. Then we’d stay the night and indulge in beers and wings. As it turned out, I called the well-known rental company once we arrived at LAX to confirm the rental reservation and let them know we’d be late. “Oh no, we don’t have vans here,” she replied. “Even though I booked and received a confirmation email?” Click. We tried U-Haul: “Oh, you need an international driver’s license to rent from us!” And then we tried Enterprise: “Sorry, we don’t do one-way rentals from SeaTac.” Jeepers, this was not looking good! Jet-lagged, thirsty, and hungry, we tried Avis. “Yes, of course, we can rent you a one-way pick up down to LAX, and hell yes, I can offer you a small discount,” smiled our Avis man at SeaTac.
We arrived in Bellingham, weary but excited to meet Nathan and of course, to check out the new bike! We met in the bar and promptly decided we were thirsty for beers and hungry for wings! Luckily, Nathan had scouted around and found a suitable bar! About four hours later, we head eaten enough wings and consumed enough cold Coors and Fireballs that we sensibly turned in for the evening. The following day, we transferred the Sturgis along with another bike into the bed of our rental GMC pickup. With friendly but foggy goodbyes, we went our separate ways. We had three days to get to LA and drop off our two new bikes at the crating company in Anaheim.
An uneventful trip ensued with the bikes, and they were dropped off at Orange County Crating, which I’ve used very successfully in the past. We dropped off our rental back at the new LAX rental return and headed to the airport. I will probably have to wait some four to six months for the bikes to arrive before I can add them to my collection! Thanks, Nathan, for all of your help and patience, and to BaT for an addictive auction site!
If you have a Success Story about a car you’ve bought or sold on BaT, please send a few lines and pictures (or a video) to community.content@bringatrailer.com, and we’ll send you a $50 credit to the BaT Gear Store when your story posts to the site.
We love to hear from satisfied BaT buyers and sellers, and a Success Story feature is a great addition to any car’s history when you’re ready to sell.
